*
I didn’t remember falling into unconsciousness, but the next thing I knew, I found myself waking up, still with a bitch of a headache. I had no idea where I was, and I was in such thick darkness that I didn’t know if I had my eyes open or not. I called out weakly to Grant, but received no answer. I needed my phone; once I had that, I'd be able to take it from there.
I'd hardly completed the thought when a soft spot of light glowed warmly to my right, illuminating my phone on my night stand. Ah, so I was in my room. I had no recollection of reaching here, but I wasn’t complaining. My bed was the only place that I wanted to be right now.
I need to see some more, I thought and, in response, light glowed dimly all around the room.
This had been one of Grant’s greatest ever ideas. All three of our rooms had been customized specifically for when we suffered through a bad Draining. Unless we absolutely needed light, the room remained in perfect darkness. However, with a single thought, we could have any area at all illuminated with just enough light to allow us to see, but not so bright that it worsened the headache we would have. The best part was that only we saw it that way. If anyone else were to enter the room, they would see the room looking normally lit, with us sprawled on our bed in a heavy nap. We’d spent ages perfecting the specifications and applying it to all three of our rooms, but we never would have gotten anywhere if it hadn’t been for Stephen helping us.
The thought of Stephen made my heart hurt. To think that we had come so close to probably getting some insight into where he might be, only to have had to turn around and flee. With the threat of the Bleeders no longer pressing on me, I understood a lot clearer why Grant had been so upset.
We won’t give up on you, I made a mental promise to Stephen, wishing desperately that he could hear it.
A small thought suddenly occurred to me, and it was probably one of the only things that could make me smile at the moment. I lifted my blanket off me and peered beneath it, prompting the bed to give off a gentle aura of light. It was more than enough to make me realize that I was wearing nothing but a pair of ghastly pink Calvin Klein briefs.
Grant really did change my underwear when he’d put me to bed, and I was convinced that he’d chosen the most conspicuous pair that he could find to make sure that I was aware of it. I gave a low, throaty laugh. I'd get him back eventually for it, but for now, I just delighted in the fact that the three of us were alive, at the very least, if not entirely alright.
I finally reached over to grab my phone, groaning in pain as I did, and then double tapped the screen. The phone sprang to life, indicating that either Grant or Vanessa had done me the favor of finally recharging the battery.
The icons of almost two dozen notifications lingered at the top of the screen, and I went in to see what I had missed. Most of them were unimportant enough that I could ignore them, but a video message from Grant quickly caught my eye, and I opened it up immediately.
Grant’s face instantly came over my screen, and the first thing I noticed was that he looked nervous. Immediately, I felt panic stirring within me… Grant was never nervous.
‘Hey, Ry,’ he started, with a bit of forced calm. ‘If you’re seeing this, it means you’re up, and that’s awesome. When you’re up for it, give us a call so that we’ll know for sure how you’re doing. Ness is doing great, and I'm hanging in there.’ He paused, and tugged at the top of the grey turtle-neck sweater that he was wearing. ‘This fucking thing stings like a bitch, though, and I can’t figure out how to heal it,’ he continued with a grimace. When he was done fussing with his injured neck, he turned back to the camera, hesitated for a moment, and then went on.
‘Listen, Ry, there’s something I've gotta tell you. Ness wanted us to wait until you were all better, but I think it’s important that you know now. After we left you at your house today, Ness and I started talking about maybe going back to the office in a few days. But, this time, with a plan, you know? We can’t be ambushed like we were today. We didn’t know what exactly we’d do differently, but it doesn’t matter now, anyway. We can’t go back there again – not next week, not ever. Ry, the entire building’s gone… totally destroyed. It was on the news tonight, and my mom called us in to see it, or we wouldn’t have known.
‘I know you see how personal this is, Ry. Someone knew that Stephen sent Ness that vision. They were expecting us to show up at his office, and they sent those Bleeders after us. I bet they weren’t expecting us to survive, but they definitely made sure that we wouldn’t be able to come back.’
None of this was anything that I hadn’t already worked out on my own, but I still listened to Grant’s speech with rapt attention, paying close attention to his face. His eyes flitted somewhere off camera, and he swallowed hard. Why was he so uncomfortable?
‘There’s something else,’ he said, and his voice dropped so low to a whisper that I had to put the volume of my phone all the way up just to catch it. ‘I, uh… I found something waiting for me in my room when I got back…’
He panned his camera away from his face, to his left, and focused it on something that made my heart ram against my chest. My mouth went so dry that I felt my tongue scrape across my palate like sandpaper.
‘God, no,’ I whispered, feeling my stomach leap and churn in horror. This wasn’t happening; it couldn’t be happening. Floating in mid-air above Grant’s bed was the same tapestry that we had gone hunting in Stephen’s office. A huge rip ran from its top to its centre.
‘They know where to find us,’ came Grant’s voice from the phone, though the camera still faced the mutilated insignia that Stephen had so badly wanted us to see. ‘We’ve gotten ourselves mixed up in something really messed up, Ry. I don’t know what it is… but I'm scared shitless.’
The video ended, leaving the image of Stephen’s tapestry plastered on the screen of my phone. For a really long time, I sat there staring at it, my heart seeming unable to resume its regular pace, while Grant’s voice echoed over and over in my head.
We’ve gotten ourselves mixed up in something really messed up, Ry. I don’t know what it is… but I'm scared shitless.
I don’t know what it is… but I'm scared shitless.
… but I'm scared shitless…
Yeah, that made two of us.
***
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